Patent GB-705407-A (GB)
Title: Improvements relating to bladed rotors for aircraft propulsion
Inventor: SPALDING DUDLEY BRIAN
IPC: F02K7/10
Filed: 1951-05-16
Abstract: 705,407. Jet propulsion plant; gas turbine plant. NATIONAL RESEARCH DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION. Oct. 2, 1951 [May 16, 1951], No. 11467/51. Class 110 (3). [Also in Groups XI, XII and XXXIII] In a bladed rotor for aircraft, e.g. a helicopter rotor or an airscrew, which is rotated by ducts feeding propulsion nozzles in which ducts fuel is burnt in a stream of compressed air, the combustion system of each duct comprises a plurality of rods arranged transversely to the airflow through the duct and in a direction generally lengthwise of the rotor blades and has means to supply fuel to the rods so that the centrifugal force arising from the rotation of the rotor causes the fuel to spread as a film over the rods. The invention is stated to be the application of the combustion chamber described in Specification 696,757 to a bladed rotor for aircraft. The rotor blades 1, Fig. 3, are driven by ram jets 2 of rectangular section consisting of an intake 3, a diffusion zone 4, a combustion zone 5 and a convergent nozzle 6. The combustion system of each ram jet comprises rods 7 which form one or more spaced grids which extend transversely of the duct. The rods 7 lie lengthwise of the blades 1 and are supplied with fuel from a fuel well 11 through orifices 12. When the rotor rotates the fuel is distributed as a film on the rods. The rods 7 should be so shaped that zones of reverse flow are formed in the wake of the rods. The rods may be circular, triangular, arrow-head or semi-circular in shape or may be aerofoils positioned in the air stream so that they are stalled. To reduce break away in the diffusion zone 4, the duct is made double-walled and holes 14 in the inner wall enable air to be taken to a low pressure region of the duct. The rods 7 may be formed on the leading edge with recesses 17, Fig. 6, and may be forwardly inclined from the radial direction to prevent the air stream tearing the fuel from the rods in the form of droplets. The upper and lower sides of the ram jet may be formed by aerofoils 18, 21, Fig. 8, the upper aerofoil 21 being pivoted at 22 so that it may be moved between the position shown, in which the space between the aerofoils acts as a propulsive duct, and a position parallel to the aerofoil 18 in which the drag is a minimum. The rods 7 may be combined in a common grid structure, Fig. 8, pivoted at 23 so that they may be moved to a position of reduced drag. The adjustment of the aerofoil 21 and grid structure may be automatic in dependence on the fuel pressure in the fuel well 11. In a modification the air is supplied to the ducts by a mechanical compressor accommodated in the fuselage of the aircraft. The Provisional Specification describes an arrangement in which the rods 7 are arranged at right angles to the axis the radially inward face of the rods so that the fuel is retained on the rods by centrifugal force. fuel is retained on the rods by centrifugal force. It is also stated that the oil well 11 may be arranged to remove solid particles from the fuel An arrangement in which the fuel is supplied to the rods 7 by a rotary fuel distributer driven by the tangential reaction of the fuel is also described.